Littletown (chapter 1: Billy and His Basketball)
by Evie1
Summary: Set to be 15 years from now. William Gish has a great family and great friends, but when his un-known past comes back to haunt him, what kind of truth will be revealed? MSR, DRR.


1 The Littletown Series  
  
2 Chapter One: Billy and His Basketball  
  
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This is my first fiction. It will get better, I promise.  
  
Disclaimer: Characters of The-X-files belongs to 1013 and FOX.  
  
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My name is William Gish. Everybody calls me Billy in school. I grow up in this suburban town called Littletown. I have dad, mom, a little sister Emily, and a dog. My best buddies are Omar and Katie --- we are all in Ms. Chiang's science grade 10 science class. I thought my life was ordinary, plain and simple, until one day.  
  
The strange man came in to the gym. Only Omar and I were in the gym, practicing basketball for the PE --- god Knows Omar was so bad at aiming. I was always good at basketball, even though my dad had been training me football since I was 5. Omar always said that, it was as if I could control the basketball. "Billy just stared at it and, bang! The ball fell right in! "  
  
"No," I protested, "it's just all about angle and physics and some good luck. Aiming, that's it."  
  
"Aiming, yeah, right, like I never tried before…." Omar said.  
  
I noticed a stranger walked into the gym. The stranger was tall and strong. Omar sensed that the man was up to something, probably me, so he stood up in front of me.  
  
"Who are you? What are you doing here? "  
  
The stranger walked right at me, shoveling Omar aside. Omar flew out --- I meant it, flying --- and hit the seats around the gym. CLAAPSEEE! The stalks of seats just broke and collapsed.  
  
"What do you want from me?" I was really afraid, panicked. My voiced shook. Staring at the seats, I thought what if they could have collapsed on this strange guy….  
  
It was just a thought, and then ---  
  
The stalks of seats, as if they could follow my order, flew out and crashed right at the stranger.  
  
Seeing the stranger under the debris, I ran to Omar. He was hurt but could still speak. "How did that happen, Billy?"  
  
I wish I knew what the heck was going on.  
  
All of a sudden, Omar's eyes turned into panic. "Watch out your back, Billy…"  
  
The stranger, somehow, rose from the debris, and walked right at me again. I was caught off guard, and before Omar could finish his sentence, the stranger's hands were already around my neck. He was trying to strangle me.  
  
"Get away from me! " I thought.  
  
And then, as if there was a mighty power, he was appalled from me. I turned around, seeing his face with disbelieves. He tried to approach me again but he couldn't, like a force field around me. When I realized my lucky charm started to heat up, I saw the stranger kneeled down painfully, his skin melt and showed something underneath --- metal. I had never seen anything like this before, and everything now was just like an off-beat science fiction movie. The stranger moaned, screamed, and then, burst into nothing. My lucky charm, a small glass bottle of rusty sands hanging on a leather string on my neck, was now extremely hot. I had to pull it outside my clothes.  
  
"Where did-- did he go? " Omar, after a long awe, finally came to the language.  
  
I shook my head. I did not know. I did not know what happened.  
  
Before Omar and I left the gym, Omar asked me, "what are you going to tell the everybody? The gym is trashed… nobody will believe us. "  
  
I turned around and looked at the gym. "I wish it will go back to normal... "  
  
And it did, like nothing had happened.  
  
"Billy! " Omar screamed. "How did you do that? "  
  
I did not know. All I did was thinking.  
  
=================================  
  
The very afternoon I told my mother what happened in the gym. Mom looked at me. Her face told me that her greatest fear had come alive. She used to tell me that I am a very special child, and not in an "every child is unique" term. So I think this incident might have something to do with it. And then I told her the lucky charm was working. She looked… strange.  
  
That night, mom and dad were both sitting in my room. They looked darn right serious.  
  
A long pause, then my father, with his untangled forehead --- he was like that when he was deeply worried. " Son, ya know that you are adopted…"  
  
"And it's time to tell you about your past and your birth parents." My mom quickly added, knowing dad was having trouble choosing the words.  
  
"I thought I have to wait till 25," I asked. "Why now?"  
  
Dad sighed. "It's for your safety. We thought if you know what is after you, you may be able to react and protect yourself."  
  
What is after me? Who is after me?  
  
Mom pulled out a folder in her hands. She slowly pulled out a picture. A beautiful red headed woman and a handsome, tall brown hair man stood in the rain. Somehow the pictured and the familiarity sent a chill down my spine. They must be my birth parents. I looked up to mom. She had tears in her eyes. She nodded. "Yes, honey, they are your birth parents."  
  
I turned to see dad. He was pretty overwhelmed by everything. I could not read from his expressions. I knew that dad and mom had known my birth parents well before I was born. Maybe the pictures brought back some memories. I remembered dad told me that both of my birth parents were his best friends and colleges. After they passed away in an accident, my now- parents took me to Littletown and raise me. I had believed that my birth parents were dead; but now, somehow, I was not sure anymore.  
  
"They are dead now, right?"  
  
Dad and mom looked at each other. Mommy seemed to be uncertain, and dad took her hand. "Monica, we've talked about this…"  
  
Mommy looked at me. " The truth is, honey, we don't know."  
  
She handed me a document. "The X-Files? "  
  
"Just open it. And read."  
  
Agent Dana Scully. Agent Fox Mulder. Agent Monica Reyes. Agent John Doggett. Alien taking over earth. Government conspiracies. Unexplained phenomena. Okay. Sound already like that "Frontier of Reality" old sci-fi series on Space Channel, where a read-headed skeptic girl agent and a tall good looking guy agent investigating these kinds of stuffs. My little sister Emily was a big junkie of FOR, and once she told me, with giggles, that the guy character's name was funny because she just discovered in French Class that Raynard stood for Fox. Foxy Fox. I also remembered that mommy once told Emily that FOR was actually based on real life personals in FBI, and she might have known some characters in the real life.  
  
Fox Mulder.  
  
My birth father was the paranoid, alien chasing profiler Fox Mulder, and my birth mother was the skeptical medical doctor Dana Scully. Okay. Don't panic, Billy.  
  
"Yes Billy," dad said. Was I thinking out loud? "And that Gary Shandling and Tea Leoni movie was a completely untrue portrait of your parents."  
  
I was not thinking about THAT MOVIE! I protested. I would not have known they were actually based on my parents! However, since dad brought it up, it seemed to be funny. I giggled a little bit.  
  
"Billy, I know this seems to be ridiculous, but you have to believe. Your parents and us were in The X-Files 15 years ago. We've seen unexplained things and involved with conspiracy events." Mom said to me, looked serious. " Your birth was a miracle. Dana was diagnosed to be barren, but then you came. Mulder's life was threatened because he hold the key of destruction of Super Soldiers, so you and your father --- I mean Mulder --- were both wanted by them. They wanted you die. "  
  
Now this is very difficult to digest. I am the centre of a war; I am the savior of human race; I am the key to the X-Files. (Where did that phrase come from?)  
  
Mom continued. " Mulder took some time living underground right after you were born. Billy, both of your parents loved you so much that they could not stand any time apart from you. When your father tried to return home, his life and yours were endangered. It was very close to…"  
  
"It was a very close call," my father continued. "For your safety, mommy here and I took you driving; Mulder and Scully fled away from D.C. by themselves. We were supposed to meet Mulder and Scully at a place, but they never showed up. We have no idea what happened to them ever since. They might been living underground but had no way to reach us."  
  
"I've promised Scully that I will take the best care of you. Your Uncle Frohike, Langley and Byres hacked into the government database and gave us new identities. Since then we have been living as an ordinary American suburban family." Mom said.  
  
I thought through it for a while. Then. "The man in the gym today was a super soldier, I think. Why do the super soldiers want me?"  
  
Mom and dad shook heads. Dad said, "I do not know. They believe that you possessed powers that may endanger their existence."  
  
Somehow this does not surprise me. Mom followed, "I were there when you were born. A dozen of them --- super soldiers --- were there, too. I thought they were there to take your life, but they claimed that you would be born, and they just watched. Till today I still can't figure out why some want you die and the others want you live. Your mother --- Dana --- noticed that you could move object by your will since you were a toddler. She was very frightened at that time. But your ability didn't really progress with your growth, till today. "  
  
Emily called that magical power. My sister is totally into those witch craft, psychic, and every unexplained phenomena. While mom asked me to keep my ability a low profile, Emily tried to train me to be the next great warlock --- or wizard ---, and threw all kinds of stuffs at me, secretly when ever I hanged around in her room. My favorite trick was moving pencils, let them flew around in the room, and then stick them to the ceiling.  
  
Another thing came to my mind. "What does the lucky charm do? They heated up today." I asked.  
  
"This is an iron compound your parents found that could destroy the super soldiers. This is still a secret. Billy, all we've told you do not leave the house, and you should not even tell Omar and Katie, understood? These things are too important. If you leak a word, the dangers may follow."  
  
What about Emily? Before I even asked about Emily, dad already yelled at the door,  
  
"And, did' ya understand that, Emily? Don't say a word! "  
  
"Yes dad! Loud'n'Clear!"  
  
Dad turned around, gave mom and me a mysterious smile. "I know she's been listening."  
  
===================================================  
  
"So, pretty cool, hun? My brother is the savior of human race on earth," I sat at Emily's bed, letting my eleven years old sister making fun of me. "Which proved that I was right on training you to be a great wizard."  
  
" Thank you, Madam Gish; what's next? Hogward Express?"  
  
Emily laughed. "You are just like Harry Potter, the baby that stopped the evil. You are the famous baby William, who stopped evil at his birth, survived the baby-hunt, and is going to be the savior of mankind. "  
  
"I don't want to be the savior of mankind!" I screamed. "All I want is a normal life. Okay, fine, maybe I am a little bit special with this power thing, but I am just normal in any other ways. I even need you to teach me math!  
  
"The Lord works in mysterious ways," Emily was typing on her lean keyboard, searching for something. "One gets great supernatural power, and is doomed to be short in math."  
  
Ding.  
  
"I've got hits," she said.  
  
"What hits?"  
  
"Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, your birth parents." She smiled at me. "Don't I love these old web-pages … Don't even take me one second to download."  
  
She saw my hesitance. "Don't you always want to learn about them?"  
  
"Yes, but.." My emotions were powerful. Mixed feelings. "I used to think that knowing about my birth parents would be a pivotal event of my life. Mom always said that I could know everything about them when I am an adult. I thought everything would be different…"  
  
"And everything IS different. You are a gifted wizard and the only person that can fight those super hybrids."  
  
"If you don't stop that wizard talk, I am gonna tickle you, Emi," I said. "Well, Not like this. Everything is different but … I am overwhelmed."  
  
"Come here, big brother, " Emily opened her arms and hug me. "No matter what or who you are, I am always your little sister that loves you so very much, and daddy and mommy always love you, too. And now you know that you have another parents somewhere that loved you so deeply that they were even willing to sacrifice their lives to save yours. You are a lucky boy, Billy. Now, you want to see the web pages or not?"  
  
Yes.  
  
"Your father is a Oxford grad, and your mom studied physics and then became a medical doctor. I just want to be like them when I grow up! " Emily kept adding her comments while I was reading the pages. "No wonder dad always said that you've got great genes --- the looks and the brain. Daddy has a high expectation on you, you know. And sometimes I think he actually favours you more than me. "  
  
" Emi, does it occur to you that my birth parents actually never got married? "  
  
"Yeah? Let me see… " Emily browsed through the files and pages. "They didn't really say. But I think a woman like Dr. Scully would have kept her own name even if she ever got married. Did dad and mom mention that in 'the talk'? "  
  
"No. Dad is old-fashioned, and he would have said "The Muldah's" if they were married."  
  
"So your last name is probably "Scully". Bill Scully. William Scully. Talking about the last name. Didn't mom say that they changed their names when they arrive Littletown?"  
  
"Let's see what your last name was supposed to be…" I browsed through the online news pages. "I remembered this. Agent Monica Reyes. This is probably Mom. Agent John Doggett. Probably Dad. I don't know. "  
  
"See if you can pull out the pictures."  
  
I made some modifications on the key words. Some thumbnail photos pumped out. I clicked on one of them.  
  
"Oh My God, that's really mom and dad…" Emily said, "I am supposed to be Emily Doggett. No wonder uncle Langley always called Dad 'Dogbert'... weird…"  
  
"Which brought up another question. Dad and Mom. Were they forced to be husband and wife because of me? "  
  
"Now," Emily said, "I am one hundred percent their love child. So if there were any force-ness at the beginning, probably gone after a few years. If you're really curious, why don't u go ask Mom and Dad? "  
  
"Just asking…."  
  
So much for today.  
  
========================  
  
I had asked Omar not to say anything about the tall stranger before we left the gym. Thank God Omar only got a few bruises. I called him again before went to my bed, just checking if he was fine. He complained that he had to make up a story about how badly he fell trying to slam dunk, and now his mom was so concerned that he was not allowed to play basketball. "Buddy, she won't know if you still practice basketball; moreover, you still need to practice your aim."  
  
A whimper came from the other end of the phone line. " Billy, raincheck, okay? "  
  
=================================  
  
"So Omar is not gonna play basketball with you today," Katie asked in the science class. "Can I go? One-on-one"  
  
"You're a girl. You are not gonna have fun. I am going to beat you anyway."  
  
"Ah-eh-," Katie gave me a mysterious smile, shook her head. "Never under estimated a girl. You are not even starting to grow tall yet."  
  
She was right. Katie was already 5'5 while I was still at about the same height as her. Girls usually grow earlier than boys. To keep my dignity, I replied, "Just STARTING to grow, to be precise."  
  
"Then play more basketball, shortie," she giggles, "that may help! Grow taller so Melissa Adler can notice you…"  
  
I was brushing. Katie and Omar knew that I had the worst crush on Melissa. Melissa had long wavy red hair --- the kind of brownish dark red, making her fair skin luminescent. She had large bright eyes that always shown her intelligence and cleverness. Melissa was always the top of class. She was not a big fan of cheerleading, which most girls would be killed for it, although she did play some sports. She was too smart and too cool. Guys from the football team didn't even dare to look at her because of her killing beauty and icy expressions. She was actually a sweet girl, according to Katie who had her locker right next to Melissa.  
  
And Me? One day I saw her in the science lab. Sunshine shot from the window and danced around her red wavy hair. She watched into the telescope with absolute devotion, amazement and awe. I thought I saw her smile, mixed with self-confidence, determination and joy, even more mysterious than Mona Lisa's smile. If anybody ever mentioned "romantic science" (I though, probably Emily or Katie,) this should be it.  
  
You saw what I actually meant when I said I didn't want super power. My little "movements" could never impress a girl like Melissa, a skeptic future scientist.  
  
"You will be willing to be her sliced sample if she ever asked, and then you will wear your little heart on your sleeve, asking her how many does she need.." Katie said.  
  
"What?" clearly I wasn't listening.  
  
"Shhuu, Melissa is looking at you…" Melissa turned her head around, glanced at me.  
  
Today was a great day. Did I mention that already? 


End file.
